The 1668 and 1678 censuses report him actually growing younger, a fact explained by the probable loss of statistics from 1647 to 1649, when renewed belligerency between France's Modenese and Spain's Milanese proxies led to a flow of refugees that included Stradivari's mother.

[11] The latter explanation is supported by the word Cremonensis (of Cremona) on many of Stradivari's labels, which suggests that he was born in the city instead of merely moving back there to work.

[13] However, there are no records or information available on his early childhood, and the first evidence of his presence in Cremona is the label of his oldest surviving violin from 1666.

[13] M. Chanot-Chardon, a well-known French luthier, asserted that his father had a label of Stradivari's stating, "Made at the age of thirteen, in the workshop of Nicolò Amati".

[16] Amati would also have been a logical choice for Antonio's parents, as he represented an old family of violin makers in Cremona, and was far superior to most other luthiers in Italy.

Some researchers believe early instruments by Stradivari bear a stronger resemblance to Francesco Rugeri's work than Amati's.

This pin or hole was fundamental in the graduation of the thickness of the plates and was a technique passed on through generations of pupils of the Amati.

[20] An alternative theory is that Stradivari started out as a woodworker: the house he lived in from 1667 to 1680 was owned by Francesco Pescaroli, a woodcarver and inlayer.

[25] They remained in the house until 1680, during which time they had five more children, starting with an infant son who lived for only a week, and then Francesco, Catterina, Alessandro, and Omobono Stradivari.

In 1682, a Venetian banker ordered a complete set of instruments, which he planned to present to King James II of England.

[39] In fact, Stradivari's early career is marked by wide experimentation, and his instruments during this period are generally considered of a lesser quality than his later work.

[40] However, the precision with which he carved the heads and inserted the purfling quickly marked him as one of the most dextrous craftsmen in the world, a prime example of this being the 1690 "Tuscan" violin.

[27] In the early 1690s, Stradivari made a pronounced departure from this earlier style of instrument-making, changing two key elements of his instruments.

They exerted influence on one another's shape, varnish and sound of instruments, but also on many of their contemporaries'; they defined violin making standards for the next 300 years.

In the 1720s Daniel Parker, a very important British luthier, produced fine violins after Stradivari's work selling anywhere from £30,000 to £60,000 in recent auctions.

Well into the 19th century, Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, the leading French luthier of his time, also made many important copies of Strads and Guarneris.

Although the Cremonese luthiers remained the suppliers, the demand side now consisted mainly of collectors, researchers, imitators, profiteers, and speculators.

The violin collector Count Ignazio Alessandro Cozio di Salabue, Vuillaume, and later Tarisio Auctions have all contributed to this frenzy that would extend well into the 21st century.

Having acquired many Strads from Paolo Stradivari, Count Cozio commissioned Giovanni Battista Guadagnini to make some replicas of the instruments.

Although many features of Strads are present in the copies, they still remain heavily influenced by Guadagnini's workshop principles and represent well the maker's Turin period.

Some of the most important luthiers from this part of history include Giovanni Rota, as well as the two non-Italian makers François Chanot in France and the artist, inventor and musician William Sidney Mount in the US, who both created experimental violins.

The 20th century was the so-called rebirth of Cremonese making, when luthiers such as Giuseppe Antonio Rocca, Giovanni Battista Morassi, Beltrami, and the Antoniazzi family emerged from a seemingly uneventful and experimental period.

One of the major differences between Antonio and his sons' craftsmanship was the quality of the purfling on their instruments, which in the case of Francesco and Omobono has been referred to as "startlingly poor".

His violins are desired more than those of any other luthier except his contemporary, Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, who commands a similar respect among violinists.

[53][54][55][56] While the usual label for a Stradivarius instrument, whether genuine or false, uses the traditional Latin inscription, after the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890, copies were also inscribed with the country of origin.

[61] The Vienna Philharmonic uses several Stradivari instruments that were purchased by Austria's central bank Österreichische Nationalbank and other sponsors: Chaconne, 1725; ex-Hämmerle, 1709; ex-Smith-Quersin, 1714; ex-Arnold Rosé, ex-Viotti, 1718; and ex-Halphen, 1727.

[65] On 2 April 2007, Christie's sold a Stradivari violin, the 1729 Solomon, Ex-Lambert, for more than $2.7 million to an anonymous bidder in the auction house's fine musical instruments sale.

On 21 June 2011, the Lady Blunt Stradivarius, a 1721 violin, was auctioned by Tarisio to an anonymous bidder for almost £10 million, with all proceeds going to help the victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

[72] A collection assembled by Rodman Wanamaker in the 1920s contained as many as 65 stringed instruments by such masters as Stradivari, Gofriller, Baptiste and Giuseppe Guarneri.

Included was The Swan, the last violin made by Stradivari,[73] and soloist instrument of the great Cuban 19th-century virtuoso Joseph White.